Thursday 3 September 2009 09.56 EDT
First published on Thursday 3 September 2009 09.56 EDT

There is a restlessness to Gary Roberts that makes it difficult to be in his company. His eyes flicker and rarely make direct contact while his hands stretch and grip at regular, distracting intervals. He answers questions with little pause for thought and once our meeting is up he bolts from his chair at near breakneck speed, leaving behind the sense that he never wanted to be there in the first place.

But it is such bustling energy that explains the making and undoing of the 22-year-old. Roberts is a product of Crewe Alexandra's much-vaunted academy and impressed so quickly with his all-action performances from central midfield that his first-team debut came at the age of 16. The teenager quickly established himself in the side and it seemed then that, following on from David Platt, Danny Murphy and Neil Lennon, Gresty Road had produced another star.

That, though, has not proved to be the case. Six years on from his debut, and having captained England at youth level, Roberts is now an outcast, having been released by Crewe and, this summer, Yeovil Town. Both clubs acted for the same reason; they could no longer handle a man intent on wrecking his life through alcohol, a young drunk who spent as much time in the pub as he did on the training ground. And the reason for the destructive habit? "Boredom, mainly," says Roberts, twitching. "I get bored very easily."

But he, too, has now decided enough is enough. Determined to get his career and life back on track, Roberts has agreed to undergo a 26-day residential programme at Sporting Chance, the clinic setup in Hampshire by the former England captain and recovering alcoholic Tony Adams eight years ago to help sports people escape addiction. Roberts will begin his recovery there on Monday.

"I'm looking forward to sorting my life out," he says. "I know clubs won't take a chance on players who have addictions because they don't want that culture developing in their dressing room. That's why I want to get clean – my dream remains to be a top pro."

Roberts's use of the word "addictions" is not accidental. This is a man dealing with twin vices. Excessive drinking, he explains, followed an obsession with gambling that took hold shortly after the 2006-07 season, when he made 43 starts for Crewe, then in League One, and was being touted as their next £1m-plus player. Having impressed in the Championship the season before, he was tipped to join a club in that division. Cardiff made their interest known to Crewe's then manager, now their director of football, the legendary Dario Gradi. But as this was going on, Roberts was spending more and more time in the presence of bookmakers.

"Like lots of young footballers I suddenly had a lot of money and lots of free time to spend it," he says. "Some players can cope with that but I couldn't, I was bored and needed something to do. So I started gambling on horses. It got so bad that I couldn't go past a bookies without walking into one. At my worst I was losing £3,000 a month and needed family and friends to lend me money."

Spiralling debts led to misery, which in turn led to drinking. But in this regard the player's background is also key. He grew up in the Blacon district of Chester, an area renowned for its social housing and minimal opportunities. News that a product of the area had become a professional footballer spread and became a stranglehold for Roberts.

"I became famous pretty quickly and the lads round here all wanted a part of that," he says. "They would constantly be telling me to come to the pub and have a drink with them. There was a lot of pressure and I wasn't strong enough to deal with that.

"On a typical Saturday night out I'd have a few pints at the pub and then go to a club and have nine or 10 spirits. I'd then wake up on Sunday morning and have another drink to get over my hangover, and if I didn't have a match the next day go back to the pub and spend the day there. I'm not one of these people who can have one drink and stop. I want another and another and another."

Remarkably, Roberts performances on the pitch remained strong as the toxins in his liver built-up. He made 43 starts for the club in season 2007-08, scoring six goals. By this stage he had also racked up caps for the England Under-17, 18 and 19 sides, captaining the Under-18s when such players as David Wheater and Mark Noble were in the starting line-up.

But there were growing disciplinary issues at club level and Crewe's then manager, Steve Holland, decided that for the sake of squad harmony, it would be better if their most exciting talent left. Near the start of the following season, Roberts was loaned to Yeovil.

"Making my debut for Crewe was the highlight of my career, even more than playing for England, because it was the moment I'd become a footballer. So for it not to work out there was a real shame," reflects Roberts. "To be honest, I didn't want to join Yeovil – they weren't my cup of tea – but I needed a fresh start and they were prepared to take a chance on me."

Despite his reservations, Roberts was an immediate hit at Huish Park and after just two months there the Yeovil manager, Russell Slade, persuaded him to sign a two and a half year deal. "We're expecting great things from him," Slade pronounced on 31 October 2008. But the demons remained. Alone in a hotel room and away from his girlfriend and his then two-year-old son, Roberts was gambling and drinking as relentlessly as ever. Again, his performances on the pitch remained encouraging, but they could not disguise his off-field disintegration.

The final straw for Terry Skiverton, who took over from Slade in February this year, came shortly before the start of this season when Roberts turned up at a club-organised family fun day with the stench of alcohol on his breath. His contract with Yeovil was terminated soon afterwards. "I don't hold any bitterness towards him [Skiverton]," Roberts says. "Like with Dario and Steve at Crewe, it's not the manager's responsibility to sort my problems out. Only I can do that."

Without a club, without a partner (his girlfriend left him in May) and abandoned by his drinking entourage, Roberts, who is back living with his parents in Chester, made contact with Sporting Chance at the start of last month. "Gary deserves a lot of credit for admitting he needs to change," Peter Kay, the clinic's chief executive office, said. "It's often harder for men of Gary's age to speak up because they can't contemplate a life without the vices that have been destroying them, partly because of peer pressure.

"Sadly alcoholism in particular remains a problem in football, particularly lower down in the leagues where the influence of foreign managers is not so strong. Instead there remains a traditional British mentality of 'win, draw or lose, we'll be on the booze' and despite the best efforts of many people, including ourselves, it will take time for that to disappear."

As Kay indicates, taking up Sporting Chance's help means giving up gambling and alcohol forever. Roberts accepts this but it is clear that abstinence will be harder done than said. Only days before he met with Kay to finalise his stay at Sporting Chance, Roberts admits to having had a "quiet drink" and then, 24 hours later, "going to the bingo with my dad".

"I'm working on cutting that all out," he insists. "Peter [Kay] told me that I need to be 100% dedicated to giving up if I want to get clean and that's what I intend to be." Roberts can take motivation from the knowledge that two clubs, one in the Scottish Premier League and one in League Two, have agreed to give him a trial once his residential programme has been completed.

"I know I have the talent to play in the Championship at the very least as I've done it before and the aim is to get there sooner rather than later," he adds. "I also want to become a proper dad to my son. I want him to be proud of me and give him the best life possible, which I can only do through football. "I really can't believe what's happened to me. What's happened to my life."